p. 354 | A HARD SAYING by W. N. G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 23.

"A HARD SAYING."

By W. N. G.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life." John 6:53, 54. We read also that when Jesus spoke these words to the multitude in Capernaum, not only did the unbelievers murmur at him, but many of his disciples said, "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?" And they did not stop with speaking disparagingly of his words, but they "went back, and walked no more with him."

There are yet many, not only of unbelievers, but of professed disciples, to whom these words of the Saviour are "a hard saying." And this fact is made a pretext for imputing to the words some meaning foreign to their true import. And such readers wrest not merely these scriptures, but many others, from their practical sense. The reason why many people are indisposed to take the Scriptures as they read, is because they express more than is comprehended by the carnal or natural mind.

A few references to other scriptures may make this "hard saying" somewhat easier to the really inquiring mind. What is it to "eat the flesh, and drink the blood, of the Son of Man"? In the first chapter of John we have this record: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." Verses 1-3. In the fourteenth verse it is said that "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." In all this we unmistakably recognize Christ; and it being the Word that became flesh, by the term 'flesh,' which we are to eat, the word is clearly meant. When we eat the word, we eat his flesh.

But how do we drink his blood? Turning to Leviticus 17 we find such expressions as these: "The life of the flesh is in the blood." Verse 11. "The life of all flesh is the blood thereof." Verse 14. Then in drinking the blood of the Son we drink his life. And, coming back to John 6, we find his assurance that "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." Hence, to imbibe the words of Christ is to drink his blood.

As "all scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16), which Peter calls "the Spirit of Christ" (1 Peter 1:11), the Scriptures constitute the flesh and blood, or word, which we are to eat and drink in order to gain eternal life. From this we get some idea of the incalculable importance of the Scriptures. A few comparisons of Scripture texts will add force to our conclusion.

1 John 1:7 tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. And Christ said to his disciples, "Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3. Col. 1:14 says we have redemption through his blood. John 17:17 says that the same thing will be done for us, that is, we are to be sanctified through the truth, and that the word is the truth. All that Christ does for us he does through the word. The shepherds are commanded to feed the flock. "Feed my sheep," "feed my lambs," are injunctions of the Master. Upon what shall they feed the flock? When the Good Shepherd was on earth he declared to his Father, "I have given them thy word." John 17:14. Paul told the Ephesian elders (Acts 20:28) that the Holy Ghost had made them "overseers to feed the church of God." And he emphatically charged Timothy to "preach the word." Even as babes in Christ, the "sincere milk of the word" is to be the food upon which the disciples are to grow.

The word supplies every spiritual need. Let us draw one more comparison: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." John 6:56. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." Chapter 15:7. "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him." 1 John 3:24.

Then the disciple that eats and drinks the word will not have leanness of soul; will not become discouraged; will never become skeptical or backslidden; nor can he be deceived by false teachers. He will grow up to perfect manhood in Christ, and will always "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." There is power in the word, which those who continually feed thereon may ever have with them. "The word of the Lord endureth forever."

If any have been suffering poverty of spirit, or been lacking in Christian experience, or been weak and wavering in the face of temptation, or inclined to follow the vagaries of this foolish world, it is plain to be seen that they have not been eating the proper food. They have not been feeding upon the flesh and blood of Christ. They have not been making his life a part of their own. "Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

Isa. 55:2. W. N. G.